Salt Lick
by Slick Willy B
Summary: Lily Evans is in hiding at Hogwarts. There she must keep her secret from her new friends, or risk her life. But when something goes wrong, she must be torn from the life she has rebuilt, and start over for better or for worse.
1. New Home

Salt Lick  
  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling is the author of Harry Potter and owns everything in it.  
  
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Summary: Lily Evans had attended Beaxbatons Academy for 5 years, but with Voldemort's rise of power, her mother must go into hiding, and she must transfer to Hogwarts school under a disguise and the name of Ellen Lohre. Speaking scarce English, Lily struggles to make the best of her situation, keep hold of her mysterious magical heritage, and hide her secret from Dumbledore's watchful eye. She thought her secret was safe until James Potter came along.   
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Main Characters:  
  
Lily Evans - Ellen Lohre (Elle)  
James Potter (Prongs)  
Arabella Figg (Bella)  
Sirius Black (Padfoot)  
Remus Lupin (Moony)   
Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail)  
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(A/N) This fic starts with Lily going to Hogwarts in her 6th year so if you haven't read the summary yet I suggest you do now before you get very lost.  
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Lily Evans, now Ellen Lohre looked up at the dark castle ahead of her. It was 2:00 in the morning, raining, and frigid. Ellen Lohre. The name tasted bitter in her mouth.. Her dark red hair and green eyes had now been replaced with strait, long black hair and blue eyes. The horse-less carriage drew to a jerky stop. Lily snapped out of her reverie. She stood up and stepped out of the door and splashed onto the wet ground. A witch dressed in dark green velvet walked up to her. Her orange hair was turning gray and her face carried the wistful look of fading beauty. (A/N: For readers who have read the Blue Sword, yes I did get wistful look of fading beauty from it. For those who haven't , get it at the library and read it immediately!!!)  
  
"Miss Lohre?"  
  
"Oui."  
  
"The witch smiled sympathetically at Lily. " Welcome to Hogwarts. I'm Professor McGonagall. The other students are already in bed. If you will be so kind to come to my office you will be sorted into your house."  
  
Lily nodded. She knew of Hogwart's way of sorting into houses.   
  
Lily was impressed by the castle. It seemed so...homey. Beaxbatons was...well, stiffer than Hogwarts. The formality, the iron-straightness of it all. The orange fire in Hogwarts seemed pleasant to the purple, silver, and blue fire at the Academy.   
  
McGonagall made her way through the corridor with long strides, and Lily found her self trotting to keep up. They came to a portrait of Mideval widow weeping silently in her frame wearing a rather ugly black dress, with a forgotten bouquet of wilting purple flowers on her lap. McGonagall stopped in front of it and said bluntly- "Camel tail"   
  
Lily stared in wonder as the portrait swung open to reveal a cozy office. Lily stepped inside and sat down in one of the scarlet squashy chairs in front of a mahogany desk. Professor McGonagall seized a old black wizards hat and presented it to Lily. Lily put it hesitantly on her head. It was far to large and slipped down to the middle of her nose.  
  
She jumped with a start as the hat started talking. "Hmmm... Plenty of courage yes... More wise than smart, not that you aren't smart, oh no... Hmmm... Always trying to find the best in things, that is an admirable trait indeed. Hufflepuff would not suit you, no... Gryffindor or Ravenclaw... Hmmm... Well, you are tough... Very clever, bold, stubborn, my goodness yes. Dear me, I do believe I'm stuck!" He said the last bit out loud.  
  
" Very well," said McGonagal taking the hat of Lily and putting in on a shelf. " Don't be worried. It's not like this hasn't happened before. You'll be given a private room." She smiled kindly at Lily.   
  
"Merci," Lily choked out, trying to keep the teers that was about to spill out firmly inside her eye. She failed miserably.  
  
"There, there," said McGonnagall, giving her a quick hug. This must be very hard for you. You can come and visit me here in my office any time you want on your breaks. It'll be a real joy to have you. I was a mix house myself.   
  
Lily managed a shaky smile. "Thank you, Professor..." she said, stumbling on her English.   
  
"Not at all. Do call me Minnie. Not in front of the other students, of course. I hope you'll come visit me sometime.  
  
"Of course," Lily stuttered out. Her words were accented terribly in French.   
  
"Excellent. Your coming along quite nicely. We'll work on your English tomorrow, Ellen."  
  
Minnie showed Lily to her separate room. It was located in a secret corridor behind a tapestry near Gryffindor's portrait hole. McGonnagall gace Lily the password to the common room anyhow. Her room was was entered by a rope ladder that fell down when the password ( Return to Neverland) was said.   
  
Lily said goodbye to Minnie and climbed up to her new room and observered it.  
  
One word. Turquoise. The entire room was this color except for some dark blue. Her luggage and her owl, Arwok, were already there.   
  
Arwok hooted softly. Lily fell on her bed. Her tears thickened rapidly. Ellen Lohre buried her raven-colored head into a golden colored pillow and sobbed. After a minute, she choked out these words in French...  
  
"Papa! Why did you have die?"   
  
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A boy wrapped in a invisibility cloak stepped out of the Gryffindor common room entrance hole. His head spun around as he heard a noise. A girl. A girl crying. Crying as if her life was torn and laying at her feet.  
  
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(A/N: There it is. Plolouge of Salt Lick. Trust me, you'll find out what it means. I honestly have no idea how long this fic will go. We'll see. Review if you like it. Flames are accepted, but this is my first fic, so please don't be too harsh. Thanks! 


	2. Extending friendship, or possibly more

Salt Lick  
  
  
* I do not own Harry Potter. I know you thought I did, but I don't. So there.  
  
  
  
Morning broke upon Hogwarts castle...  
  
James Potter. Black hair, brown eyes, 5' 9", Quidditch Captain, 6th year, prefect, smart, funny. All of these summed up him pretty accurately. In fact, his nickname at school was "Prince of Hogwarts." A god. Oh yes...  
  
James Potter, at the moment, was holding a half a piece of bacon. The other half was currently in his mouth, which he has long since stopped chewing.   
  
Sirius Black, his best friend since they were 5, grabbed the piece of bacon and threw it at James's head.   
  
"Wake up Prongs. You look bloody dead."  
  
"Up all night I suppose?" Remus Lupin added, not withdrawing his head from Water Beasts of the Black Sea.   
  
(A/N: Ah... Sweet Remus. No, he and Lily will not fall in love.)  
  
"No," snapped James. "Well, yes, sort of. I couldn't sleep."  
  
"Was it about a girl?" Remus asked, his hand snaking out to take a sip of orange juice.  
  
"No! Well, yes, but it was different!"   
  
The rest of the Marauders snorted.  
  
"Seriously! I was out around 2:30 to get some hot chocolate from the kitchens and I had just gotten out of the portrait of the fat lady when..."  
  
Remus lifted his head. "When..."  
  
"I heard something. Crying. It was a girl I think. It sounded terrible. I was up all night thinking about it. It came from the corridor off of the entrance to the common room. Have we ever gone there?  
  
"There's a hidden passage behind a tapestry of Pan chasing some nymphs. It's a dead end though," Sirius spoke up.  
  
"We'll search it tonight," Remus conducted retreating behind his book, who's cover showed Loch Ness swallowing some terrified Muggles.   
  
"All right then," said James spearing some eggs with his fork.   
  
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Lily withdrew her tearstained face from the pillow and stretched. The clock showed 6:30.  
  
(A/N: She wakes up before the Marauders have their conversation)  
Lily got up and looked in the mirror. She winced. She remembered that she was Ellen Lohre, had black hair and blue eyes, and was at an English school, knowing mostly French, without friends, and her father was dead. She fished out her brush and school uniform from her bag and got dressed.   
  
Brushing her hair, Lily walked over to the humongous window that was an entire wall. It opened to a balcony that looked over the lake. She gasped as the sun rose over the trees and bounced off from the surface of the lake, which looked like a polished mirror. "At least I have a beautiful view," she thought moodily.  
  
She smiled wanly. At least it was a smile. She hadn't done that for days. It felt good. She had some exploring to do.   
  
Ellen Lohre walked self consciously into the Great Hall. She felt her self shrink as several heads turned her way. She forced her chin up and walked bravely to the Gyriffindor table.  
  
Minnie had told her she would switch Houses each week. Following each house's schedule when it changed. Her first week was in Griffindor.   
  
(A/N: The Sorting Hat could not decide between Grifindor or Ravenclaw.)  
  
She paused hesitantly deciding where to sit. "Elle! Sit here!" a voice shouted above the noise of the Hall.   
  
(A/N: This is where the Marauder's conversation begins. Sorry for interrupting.)  
  
Lily looked toward the voice and saw a blonde, blue eyed girl and her friend waving to her. She walked past some boy throwing bacon at one of his friends a couple of 3rd years giggling at Witch Weekly horoscope and sat next to the girl. She was about to say who she was and her situation in the best English that she could but was spared.  
  
"I'm Bella. You must be the French exchange student Dumbledore told us about. Elle Lohre, right?   
  
Lily smiled at Bella. "Oui."  
  
Bella smiled back and introduced the Asian girl next to her. "This is Maria. Your in our year, right. We'll show you around. Have- She was interrupted by Dumbledore standing up and tapping his glass.  
  
"Some recent announcements. Our new French exchange student arrived at 2:00 this morning and was sorted. Ellen was made an inter-house, between Griffindor and Ravenclaw. Our first in 30 years, I believe. She will be switching houses every week, and may try out for both Quidditch teams. I trust each of you will do your best to make Elle welcome at Hogwarts, seeing as she speaks little English already. Miss Lohre will be excused from all homework for 1 month, assuming that she will have learned much by then. Thank you. You may resume stuffing your faces with out excellent food."  
  
There were some scattered laughs and everyone looked Lily's way and went back to their breakfast.  
  
"As I was saying," said Bella. "Do you have your own room?"  
  
"Yes, ze Professor showed me to ze room last night. It is lovely."  
  
"Your not so bad in English," said Maria. "How much do you know?"  
  
"Very little."  
  
"We'll help. You be fluent in no time."   
  
"Merci."  
  
Maria and Bella went into talking about the classes and professors, the houses and cliques.   
  
"See those boys over there", Bella said, pointing down the table. "They're the Marauders. It's every girl's dream here to go out with them for even an hour. They're cute, smart, funny. Even the Slytherins like them, despite all the pranks they pull on them."  
  
Lily looked over at them. A boy with black hair and glasses looked over at her. Their eyes met, and what was a really a second seemed like many. Lily turned her head and resumed eating her grapefruit.   
  
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Dumbledore sat down and the Marauders looked over at Elle.   
  
"She's pretty." commented Remus staring fixedly at the French girl.  
  
"Very." said Peter.  
  
"All right. Who else wants her?" Sirius said putting down his glass.  
  
"Leave her alone Padfoot." James said still looking at Elle.  
  
"I'm just going to make her feel welcome, like Dumbledore says."  
  
"Whatever. Do what you want."  
  
"Thank you. I'm glad we agree."  
  
James looked over at Elle to see that she was looking back curiously.  
  
He met her eyes and froze. Her eyes flickered green for an instant and then resumed dark blue. She turned away.  
  
James pulled his head away after a few seconds to see the rest of the marauders looking at him strangely."  
  
"She's yours if you want her James."  
  
"No. Go ahead, she's yours."  
  
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Lily walked into Transfiguration with Maria and Bella. Minnie walked over to her and gave her a piece of Parchment.   
  
"It's a translator." She said. What I say in English will appear in French on the paper as I talk, so you'll understand the class."  
  
Lily beamed at her. "Merci, professor."  
  
After class the students filed out of the classroom. James had to talk to McGonagall about the homework while Sirius, Peter, and Remus walked out. Before Sirius left he slapped James on the back and said: " Next time you see me, I'll have a hot French date." If he had suspenders, he would have pulled them out and let them smack back arrogantly. He laughed and followed Ellen out of the room.   
  
James walked out of the classroom slinging his book bag over his shoulder. Bella and Maria were stifling laughter with some other Griffindors looking on at Sirius and Elle.   
  
He walked over to the two girls. "What's going on?" he asked.   
  
Bella answered. "Elle's faking not comprehending what he's saying. She understands English but can't speak it too well. Sirius is totally falling for it."  
  
James snorted as he looked at Sirius waving his arms and talking very loud and slow.  
  
"W-I-L-L Y-O-U G-O O-U-T W-I-T-H M-E???!  
  
Elle put on a confused look and said: "Pordonnez moi?"  
  
"James rolled his eyes as Sirius started again a walked forward to pull him back. "He'll ask you again once you learn more English."  
  
Elle smiled and laughed. "Okay."  
  
Sirius's mouth dropped as he heard her speak English and was about to reply testily but James pulled him away.   
  
"I can't believe that." he said shrugging off. "She understood me and made me look like a total idiot. Well next time I ask her I won't fall for it."  
  
"There won't be a next time, Padfoot."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I think she already said no."  
  
"Nobody says no to me."  
  
Remus looked over at him. "Woa, that was egotistical."  
  
"It's true. No one ever has."  
  
"She did."  
  
"All the more reason to be persistent."  
  
"Poor girl." said Peter. "Her first day and she already has her own personal stalker."  
  
"I'll be more docile. Carry her books and stuff."  
  
James snorted to himself. He doubted Sirius's plan would work.   
  
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Lily walked out of the classroom with Bella and Maria to have someone tap on her shoulder. "Elle!" Lily spun around. She heard Maria squeal. "Sirius Black!" she whispered to Bella who's face was totally shocked. Lily remembered. The guy who every girl would give looks to go out with. She found herself annoyed. She was new and exciting to him,, but once she got old, she would be toast. She new his kind. She watched him blunder on, able to understand, but not listening. Time to play a little game to put him in his place. She waited until he paused, as if waiting for a answer. She put on an innocent smile.  
  
"Pardonnez moi?"  
  
She watched in amusement as his face fell. "Y-you didn't understand any of that." She cocked her head to one side in confusement, aware that they had acquired an audience.   
  
"Right." he said. "W-I-L-L Y-O-U G-O O-U-T W-I-T-H M-E!?!?!?!?  
  
It was all she had to keep from laughing. "Pardonnez?"   
  
The boy from the Great Hall who had been looking at her appeared and pulled Sirius away and apologized. "He'll ask you again once you learn more English." She felt her heart skip a beat but controlled her expression. "Okay."  
  
She watched as Sirius spluttered angrily and James heaved him away. Maria ran forward. "O my Gosh, Elle! You just turned down Sirius Black! How could you?!"   
  
"Easily." Lily muttered something in French that Maria was glad not to understand.  
  
"You understand that that doesn't happen very often. He'll come after you again."  
  
" Let him come."   
  
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Lily said goodbye to Bella and Maria that night at the portrait of the fat lady as ran to her room. She pulled her long hair into a ponytail and changed out of her school uniform. Pulling out an invisibility cloak from her trunk and flinging it over herself, she pulled open the trap door and made her way down the silk ladder. She watched as it drew itself up and disappeared. She smiled. A real smile. She had friends, a beautiful room, Minnie, and humongous grounds to explore. Things were going perfect. She turned and silently ran to the entrance hall.   
  
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James pulled out his invisibility cloak from under his bed and brushed dust off of it. "Where's the map?" he asked Sirius. "Got it. He said, pulling it from his pocket. "No people near the common room, portrait, or corridors near. Nope, everyone is safe and snug in their little beds." "Excellent. Wake up Peter, Remus." Remus punched a lump on a bed, extracting a squeal. Peter fell out of bed and blinked sleepily. "What, now, right." He got up and walked over to the other 3 boys. James drew the cloak over them and pulled the drawstrings tight.   
  
They climbed out of the portrait hole and walked down the corridor. They came to the tapestry and drew it aside. The walked down the hallway to the dead end. "The crying must have come from here," Remus said. "Check the map." Sirius pulled it out. The other boys heard his sharp intake of breath. "That's strange. The map shows that there's a room directly above us. Entrance by ladder, password: Return to Neverland. It wasn't there when we explored it in 4th year." They looked up as they heard a sound. The rope ladder dropped down in response to the password.   
  
James took control. "Peter change form and go up to see if anyone is there. We'll stay down here with the invisibility cloak. If it's clear, call us up."   
  
Peter untangled himself from the cloak and changed into a rat. Using his sharp little claws, he scurried up the rope into the room. A few moments later Peter's voice was heard calling, "All clear."  
  
They tossed the cloak off and climbed up. They found Peter by a humongous window looking out at the lake. Sirius whistled slowly. "Weeping Wilma sure lives the good life."   
  
The room was turquoise and was immensely beautiful. The bed was an enormous square couch with gold and dark blue pillows. One wall was a window that opened up to a balcony straight above the lake viewing the forest.   
  
In a corner a gold spiral staircase led up to a bathroom, which the boys entered. The ceiling of the bathroom was a glass dome that perfectly showed the stars. It was obvious that the crying girl lived in luxury.   
  
The boys walked down to the lower level and sat on the bed. Peter sat up with a squeak. He pulled up a diary he had sat on. "Weeping Wilma's diary. Excellent!" Sirius exclaimed. James looked up from the diary. "I think you mean Weeping Elle. It's all in French."   
  
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A/N: Uggg. There it is! Chapter one. Enjoy! By the way, Slick Willy B. is my brother. He wrote the Digimon fic. ( A rather bad one, I might add) I'm his sister and I sign my reviews with Heart of Spun Sugar (silly, no?). Maybe you've seen one of my reviews. I'm NOT good at doing Lily's French accent, so you'll just have to imagine it. She'll learn English FAST in this story cause I know almost no French and she needs to talk more.  
Concerning Jesus Freak's review on the title: Almost. There's something else that will be answered. 


	3. The Salt Lick

Salt Lick  
  
Disclaimer: 'Ere I go. I don't own anything created by J. K. Rowling.   
  
Lily threw off her cloak and stashed it beneath a tree. She broke into a jog toward the Dark Forest and in mid-run transformed. The beautiful doe shook her head and she pranced to a stop.   
  
Lily danced along the forest only meeting up with a unicorn who bent his head as a greeting and trotted off. The doe came along a stream and bent to drink. She drew her head up sharply. Was that what she thought she smelled? Because if it was, it was exactly what she needed at the moment.   
  
Lily shouted "Yes!" inwardly. A salt lick. Every since she had secretly become animagus on her fifteenth birthday she had found that along with a sharp 6th sense, hearing, and sight; she had also acquired an overwhelming fondness for salt. Her parents had been greatly puzzled when they had found many of the missing salt shakers hidden beneath her bed. Lily had read much on the subject of animagi, and the one and only side-effect was attaining attributes of the animal you transformed into.   
  
  
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The rest of the Marauders went to bed but James didn't. "I need salt." He said briefly before covering himself with the cloak again. The rest of the marauders nodded. They knew of James's strange craving for salt. He nearly lived on the stuff. It was an attribute of deer. They love salt. In fact, Sirius's laugh sounded more and more like a bark everyday, and Remus swore he saw Peter's nose twitch once.  
  
Once out of the castle, James threw his cloak aside and transformed into a stag. He trotted through the well know path in the forest. So Elle was the one who he had heard. Made sense, really. She had just left her family and friends, that's all. But he knew there was something more. The way she had cried seemed to rake the insides of his heart. James shook it off and broke into a canter.   
  
He came to the lick and snorted in annoyance. A doe. He had come across other deer several times here before. He stamped his hooves to scare her away. She doe lifter her head, daintily licking her lips and shot James a glare that clearly said: Back off, buddy.  
  
Now that turns me off! Thought James moodily. Just when he needed to be alone. He shook his antlers threateningly.   
  
Lily snorted. Oh please. She resumed licking greedily.   
  
What was wrong with this chick? She could not take a hint. Then, the doe lifted her head, flicked her tail angrily, shot him a look that said: "Jerk." and walked haughtily off, like nothing he had done had made her leave.  
  
James growled and began to lick. The stuff just got better and better. Then it dawned in his head. If Elle really did live in that room, why wasn't she there?  
  
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*A week later, Griffindor boy's domitory*  
  
Remus finally put his book down after looking up in annoyance several times. "James stop that! What are you trying to do, crack your skull apart?"  
  
James had been scratching his head like crazy for the past few days, and Sirius had even caught him rubbing it against the bed post.   
  
"It's those bloody antlers. It's autumn, they're supposed to come off. They itch like crazy! Tonight I'm going out to the forest to get them off.  
  
Remus was about to reply, but was interrupted by Sirius storming in with-  
  
"Sirius why on earth do you have pie on your face?-!"  
  
"Guess!"  
  
"Elle," said James shortly, rubbing his head where antlers would be.  
  
"The broad pied me in front of everyone!"  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
"Nothing! Okay maybe I was a bit fresh, but it was uncalled for!"  
  
Remus quickly hid behind his book so Sirius wouldn't see the smirk on his face. For the past week Elle had been humiliating Sirius is his deperate attempts to make her go out with him.  
  
"Well her loss! I quit! And wipe that smirk off your face, Remus!"   
  
Remus dropped the book, the corners off his mouth twitching. "Sorry Sirius." He waved his wand and the pie on Sirius's face disappeared.   
  
"His antlers are shedding." he said in answer to Sirius half confused, half alarmed look at James who, at the moment was beating his head against his pillow, that was luckily muffling his violent exclamations.  
  
Sirius merely nodded. "Ahhh."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Lily laughed as she took a bite of her potatoes. Maria was recalling a mishap in Defense Against the Dark Arts of how the grindylow had gotten the better of Amos Diggory and how he was forced to be saved by the teacher.   
  
It was her first week of Ravenclaw, and though the girls were friendly, they were nothing like Maria and Bella, who took endless pains to help her with her English and classes.   
  
She ate at the Griffindor table everyday, and the two girls had quickly become Lily's best friends. Bella was short, with blonde hair and cheerful blue eyes, outgoing, and crazy. Maria was quieter, but very supportive. Even when it came to the Sirius issue. Lily knew Maria knew Maria had a little bit of a crush on Sirius, but accepted that Lily did not, and helped her to avoid him when he started to pester her. Where was Sirius anyhow? Normally he would be sitting next to her being as pushy as anything giving her flowers or offering to help her study. Study! Ha! Right on cue, Sirius popped up.  
  
"I'm on to you, you know."   
  
Lily spun around to see Sirius. She rolled her eyes and groaned inwardly. "What do you want?"  
  
Sirius sat down next to Lily pushing Bella aside, causing her to shriek in annoyance.  
  
"You really can't resist me. Your just playing hard to get. You've wanted me since day one."   
  
Ugh. The guy wouldn't recognize a hint if it screamed in front of him wearing nothing but a Kleenex. What else could she do to tell him to dream on?   
  
"So, Hogmeade on Saturday is okay with you?" he said draping his arm around her.   
  
That was enough for Lily. For the past week that boy had been stalking her around the castle following her everywhere, breathing down her neck, passing her endless notes in class, and making moves! She couldn't even talk to her friends without being pestered by this mosquito of a boy! Lily, without a second thought, grabbed a pie that was steaming innocently in the middle of the table and thrust it into Sirius arrogant face.   
  
Laughter filled the Great Hall as all heads turned towards Sirius's face covered in pie. He stood there for a moment comprehending what had just happened and thinking of a real crusher. All he got out was "You!" before running away, a trail of pie following him.   
  
After a few moments, everyone stopped laughing and started to eat again.  
  
Lily sighed. She would apologize to him tomorrow. Poor boy. He had gone through enough humiliation.  
  
The night was warm, and Lily kept her window open to the balcony. She woke up with a start. She heard a strange noise. A scraping noise. It was very quiet, even for her deer hearing. She threw the covers off and walked out to the balcony. A distance off on the outskirts of the forest was a stag rubbing his antlers against a tree. She grinned as he worked desperately to get them off. After a few minutes they loosened and he then finally managed to release the burden. The noise stopped and the stag shook his liberated head and praced back into the forest. Lily smiled and went back to bed.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
James started to desperately whack his antlers against the trunk. Come autumn, they would loosen, and you would fiddle with them until thy come undone and then pried them off. Come spring they would grow back. James found them rather useful for controling Remus when he transformed, but when it came time for them to come off, the itching was extreamly unpleasent.   
  
After what seemed forever, the antlers finally loosened and he was able to scrape them off on the ground. He shook his new head and decided to take a run before going back to bed. Finally the agony was over. He had just leapt into the forest when something caught his eye. He turned his head and looked back at the castle and the retreating figure of a girl in a white nightgown walk back into a room from a balcony. The girl had long black hair. It was Elle. He wondered how long she had been standing there. It was a good thing he hadn't transformed in front of the tree. She hadn't seen anything. It was nothing to worry about.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
After lunch the next day, Lily watched the marauders walk out of the Hall. She bit her lip and ran after them. She went up to Sirius's reatreating back and laid a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Pardonnez moi."  
  
Sirius spun around and raised his hands. "I didn't do anything! No pie!"  
  
She smiled at him and flushed. "Yes about that. I'm sorry for putting the pie in your face, I sort of..."  
  
"Snapped?"  
  
"Yes." She smiled wryly. "I hope we can be friends?"  
  
Sirius stared at her a moment, disbeleif on his face. Then he grinned. "Sure." He extended his hand, but she ignored it and gave him a hug.  
  
"You English-men are so formal," she said with a laugh.  
  
"Elle," said Remus. "I have a feeling this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
(A/N: Ahem...A muss up in last chapter's Author's Note: the comments in ( ) s were added without my knowledge courtesy of my brother. Please review and tell me what you liked didn't like and what you'd like to see. I was going to originally have a story of Lily's magical heritage, but decided against it as it would be confusing to the story. If you all are freaked out and all thinking that Sirius and Lily will fall in love or something, I promise you it will not happen. Neither will he hook up with Maria or Bella. This is strictly a L/J fic. Thank you to all of my reviewers esp. the one who gave me dictionary.com. I checked it out and was very pleased, though when I repeated the French it gave me for English, English to French, it switched to a rather interesting version, of which I'm sure I did not write. Heh heh. Concerning James shedding his antlers, I have no clue how it occours  
so I just winged it. 


	4. Back to Beauxbatons

"Salt Lick"  
  
  
Disclaimer* Harry Potter is mine. My own. I was working for 2 years for $4.50 an hour when J.K Rowling stole my idea. I have made it my life's work to expose her in all her ugly glory. (by the way, if any of you believed that, you've got a gullibility problem.)  
  
*This was written by my brother*  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
  
Lily awoke from another dream breathing heavily. She swung her legs over her bed and went up to her bathroom to take a bath.   
  
It was nice having a bath in her bathroom. She had a beautiful view of the stars. She had also been told by Minnie, who had the room before when she was at Hogwarts, that the glass of the dome could vanish with a spell, so one could listen to sounds of the night. There was also a anti-condition spell. No cold, rain, bugs etc. could get through the invisible barrier. Quite convienient.  
  
Lily poured the hot water over her head. She was going to have to start taking sleeping potions to get rid of these nightmares. But taking too many of the potions to frequently would result in possibly never waking up for up to ten years. No, it would't work. She'd search for some safe spells in the morning.  
  
Lily wrapped her dark cascade of hair in a towel and rubbed it dry. She was about to fall back into bed when she heard a bark. She was positive no dogs lived in the forest. She was too tired to care though and fell asleep before her head landed on her pillow.  
  
Lily woke up in the morning and yawned long and loudly. It was the day before Halloween. Lily rolled out of bed and fell with an "Umph." on the floor. She looked up at her clock. "Holy hippogriff! I had no idea it was so late! Why didn't I set it!" Getting dressed in her Gyriffindor uniform in less than a minute, Lily hastily put a brush to her hair and put it down a stroke later. She picked up her wand and muttered a spell to make all her tangles disappear. However the spell was done muffled for her headband was in her mouth. Her hair was untangled, but everything that was twisted knotted, tied, locked etc. also came undone in her room, causing Lily to swear loudly. She was just pulling on her knee socks when she realized... It was a Sunday.   
  
"Stupid!" she yelled at herself hitting herself on the head. "No wonder I didn't set my alarm!" Lily fell heavily back onto her bed and snoozed for a half an hour before Maria and Bella came bursting into her room and woke her up.  
  
"Wake up Elle! Dumbledore put us on the decorating crew! Wake up! And why are you in your uniform? It's Sunday."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The girls opened the door to the room where the decorations were stored. Maria shrieked as a spider scuttled across her foot.  
  
"Whoa." said Bella.  
  
The large room was cluttered with never-rotting jack-o-lanterns, dancing skeletons, huge fake spiderwebs, and real spiders, but Lily didn't think they were part of the decorations.  
  
Bella pulled out a list. "We are the Gyriffindor decorators. We do the common room, dormitories, boy's and girl's, girl's bathroom 5th corridor...:" she went on. The girls had fun setting up the magical decorations. It took up most of the day, and by 3:00 they were on the boy's dormitories.   
  
They entered the marauders room then immediately wished to go out. Dirty clothes were littered across the floor and...  
  
"Ew!" Maria said in disgust, pointing at a molding roast beef sandwich. "How did they get food up here?"  
  
"Phew it smells." said Bella casually, as if commenting on the weather. She put up an exploding pumpkin on a table and set the countdown timer for 5:30 in the morning, cackling insanely.   
  
"Hey do that again." said Lily." I learned a charm in Standard Book of Spells that can record anything and play it back anytime you wish through any desired object."  
  
"Cool!" said Bella and cackled again for Lily's wand. Lily scheduled the evil laugh to emit from the cuckoo clock that hung on the wall every hour.   
  
Lily decided to put a rotting hand under James bed that shot out and would grab his leg whenever he got in or out of bed.  
  
She lifted up the blankets hanging over the side and gasped. Maria and Bella ran over to her.   
  
"Oh my..." Under James bed was as a big box of bouillon cubes and salt.   
  
Lily grabbed it from under the bed and opened a bouillon cube. She popped it into her mouth. "Yum. Chicken." The two girls gave her a bewildered look.   
  
"What?" asked Lily, genuinely confused.  
  
Bella pulled something out of the box. It was a large leather-bound book. They opened it. It was a picture album. They flipped though moving pictures of little James and his family, cooing occasionally.   
  
"Aww.." said Maria closing the book. "He's so adorable! Only 7th year dormitories and we're done!"  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The Marauders, Lily, Maria, and Bella were laughing in the common room talking about the Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaws game they had just been to.   
  
"Really spectacular save by Crokitt, huh," said Sirius, sort of indecipherably due to a large piece of candy that was in his mouth." "Chocolate, James?" he asked, switching the ball of sugar to a corner of his mouth.   
  
"No thanks." said James weakly.   
  
Lily had just tried a sweet Remus had handed her. (his favorite) She chewed it slowly and her face screwed up in an expression of displeasure. She discreetly took it out and put it back into it's wrapper.  
  
"What's wrong?" said Remus, a little put off.   
  
"It's funny." said Lily quietly. "Sweets just haven't been the same lately. They taste, well..."  
  
"Nasty." finished James. "Same here. Do you think Snape put a curse on us?"  
  
"No, it started around the summer. And I was in France."  
  
"Same here." repeated James looking at her strangely.  
  
Sirius raised his eyebrows. "James," he whispered when the rest of them were occupied. "You know why sweets taste bad to you. The animagus side effect. Deer love salt, they must hate sugar."  
  
"Why would Lily not like it though?"  
  
"Do you think that she could also be a... nah."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
That night, Lily tossed feverishly in her bed, a cold sweat shining on her skin mingled with tears. She muttered something incomprehensible.  
  
She was there again. At Beaxbatons Academy on that fateful night...  
  
  
Lily was happily chatting with her friends at dinner about the incredibly handsome new librarian assistant who had been hired two days ago. Lily secretly couldn't wait until dinner was over so she could go try out her new animagus form again. As a child, she'd always wondered what it was like to become an animal, and now, after three years of toiling over self-transfiguration spellbooks, she had finally managed to achieve it, transforming for the first time just two weeks ago. She reached for a salt shaker while her friends rolled their eyes at her when the Hall doors banged open. A chilling sense of fear and recognition washed over her as all hell broke loose.  
The students screamed as the black cloaked death eaters swarmed into the Hall. There were ten of them. The teachers frantically herded the hysterical children out of hall, while the muggle born students dropped with a flash of green light, their screams ending abruptly. There was no hope for them. They had no warning. Lily ran as fast as her childish legs could carry her. The screams of her friends echoed in her ears, strangely quiet. The sounds vanished in her ears, and all she heard was beating of her frantic heart, and her ragged breaths. She felt a hand clutch on her hair but she twisted and kept on running. Suddenly she heard the fatal cry of "AVANDA KEDAVRA!" and she was blasted to the ground. She slowly opened her eyes, unsure whether she was dead or alive, when she saw the body next to her. "Elle," she whispered. "NO!" Time seemed to slow as she knelt gasping, cradling her dead friend's head in her lap. A cold rage quickly built up inside her. The Death Eater was a mere fifteen feet away from her, admiring his handiwork, clearly enjoying himself. He raised his wand lazily intending to finish off his true target this time. Lily snatched her wand out of her pocket and bellowed "MORPHEUS ANIMANGUS!" A beam struck the wizard and attached to him, forcing him to drop his wand. She had him now, and there was no escape. She knew what could happen if an animagus spell was done without the potion beforehand. A half-transformation, and permanent damage. Nothing in her mind quelled to stop her from this inhuman revenge, her only thought was to cause that monster as much pain as he had caused her. She began to chant the spell, and the wizards eyes widened as he realized what she was going to do to him, and began to struggle. She muttered the last part of the immensely complex spell and watched. The death eater screamed in agony as his skin began to boil and patches of hair sprouted up from his skin. Lily could see in his gaping mouth how his teeth were growing longer and pointed, his spine hunched over, creating a hunchback. His fingers sprouted claws and his legs bent with a crack. Then it stopped. Lily finally realized what she had done. She dropped her wand and slowing stumbled backwards, away from horror she'd just created. He looked up at her with pain stricken eyes and moved a few inches before falling down again with a hiss of pain... The other death eaters pulled the monster away and fled the hall as ministry officials arrived. She felt some arms pull her up yelling a question at her. It was then that she had fainted.  
  
Lily awoke in a flash drenched in sweat. The dream was still fresh in her mind, and the memory of causing so much pain, even deserved pain, still brought anguish to her. This recurring dream had been playing through her mind ever since the day that had changed life. She buried her head into her pillow and bit back a sob. It wasn't fair. She was supposed to die, not Elle. She sat up and wiping away the tears, thought "C'mon Lily, you're a big girl. Stop crying and go on living your life." She got out of bed and started to get dressed while she said aloud, "I need salt."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Lily slowly walked through the forest as her human self, admiring the beautiful plant life, that was obviously wizardly. The magical version of the Venus fly trap was known to eat humans. She came to a clearing with a strange flat rock wall. "Must belong to the centaurs." she thought out loud. She had come across one, or rather he had come to her in curiosity, and had an intellectual conversation with it. His name was Bayinnze, and had a particular fondness sugar lumps, and had asked Lily to bring some next time she came into the forest. She went up to the wall and bushed back some vines to see some crude writing. MOONY, WORTAIL, PADFOOT, AND PRONG'S FIRST NIGHT ADVENTURE: HAD A RUN IN WITH GIANT SPIDERS 9-20 20   
  
She frowned. That was certainly not made by a centaur. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. Wasn't that what the marauders called themselves as nicknames? She heard a rustling behind her. ""Bayinnze?" She spun around and froze. A werewolf, with red eyes, and yellow fangs was crouching twenty feet from her. The wolf leapt forward at her and she screamed.  
  
Not a moment too soon she transformed. The werewolf stopped abruptly and starred at the quivering doe. Their heads both turned as a black dog and a stag bounded out of the bushes. The werewolf trotted over to them and Lily stared in a mixture of horror and amazement. The stag looked at her strangely and stepped forward at her curiously. Lily ran out of the clearing. She'd seen that stag twice before. She wasn't the only animagus at Hogwarts.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A/N: Okay, sorry for the delay... Thank you for your reviews- keep 'em coming. My next chapter is already being written, so you shouldn't have to wait long. 


	5. The Album

Salt Lick  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.   
  
  
James heard a scream from where Remus had gone. He bounded through the brush and bursted out of the bushes to see Remus on his haunches, staring curiously at a shaking doe. He looked behind the frightened deer to the vines against the rock wall moving back and forth as if recently disturbed. A doe couldn't do that, and a doe surely couldn't scream. He started towards her. The hart plunged away into the forest. Sirius and he exchanged looks. This wasn't good.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
  
  
It was November at Hogwarts. Lily had been coming along great in her English, and didn't need Minnie's translator anymore. She could carry on a conversation in English, and her accent had gotten thinner. Lily was quite well-liked, and well-known at school, and Sirius hadn't been the only one to ask her out. She spurned them all, except for a little first year who she kissed on the head and sweetly agreed to help him with his Transfiguration sometime. The boy had stared in genuine awe as she walked off .   
Mornings were Lily's one true weakness. She slept hard, and often through her alarm. She resorted to having Bella or Maria come up and wake her. Lily had come up with a sort of fashion with the Hogwarts uniform , and the next couple of weeks, almost every girl was copying it. Her new nickname at school was Elle Belle.   
Her marks were a solid A average with an occasional B now and then, and she had found a spell that gave her a full, long, and dreamless sleep. Everything was smooth sailing.  
  
The morning after the werewolf incident, Lily woke up by herself and started to get dressed slowly and thoughtfully wondering about last night's occurrences. That mark on the Stag... She had a funny feeling she'd seen something like that before and she knew where to find out. If it was there, it would all come together...   
  
Bella and Maria burst in and snapped her out of her thoughts. The three weren't down to the Great Hall. Elle put on an extra large amount of salt on her eggs that morning. She was twirling her fork around on her plate absentmindedly when Maria spoke up. "The Marauders are awful quiet today. Do you think anything's wrong?"  
  
Lily looked over. The boys were huddled together talking in whispers. James had a frown, Sirius looked concerned, and Remus looked pale and looked like he was going to be sick. Only Peter was eating, looking only mildly interested. Lily watched as girl came up to flirt with Sirius and he batted her away with a annoyed look. Something was definitely wrong. The girl retreated to her table looking deeply offended.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Through the day, Lily's suspicions were more deeply confirmed with the boy's suspicious actions. Potions went without a single insult or prank at the Slytherins, even when Lucius Malfoy made a rather rude signal at James. James just looked over at him with an expressionless face, and bent further over his potion, his brow furrowed.   
  
The Marauders were not at Divination that day, and Lily suspected they had blown it off. Couldn't really blame them. Even she'd risk grades to have Trelawney-free day. Her eyes glazed as the crystal ball in front of her slid out of focus to be replaced with the events of last night. A werewolf, stag, and dog could not be friends... And that inscription on the wall... Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs were what the Marauders called themselves. Could it mean that... Just then, Professor Trelawney caught Lily not paying attention and volunteered her for an extra assignment. Maria sent her a pitying glance from across the room.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
*That night*  
  
Lily stared at herself in the mirror. It had been so for fifteen minutes. She hadn't made a move. Blue eyes... And black hair. She wondered how long they would be there. When would this whole ordeal be over. Would it ever be over? Was she doomed to lie to everyone her entire life? And what about the summer. When would she see France again?  
A tear slid down her face, and she didn't try to resist the next, and the one after that. She picked up her diary, and flipped to the year before.  
  
Dear Diary, I have made progress with the Animagus Potion and experiment came out beautifully. I have been registered by the French Ministry of Magic, and will probably have my first transformation at Beaxbatons.   
  
Dear Diary, Elle and I went to the beach today and the most gorgeous guy came up and asked us to play volleyball...  
  
Dear Diary, Dad's cough is growing steadily worse... I'm so worried! Will he ever get better? He had a huge coughing bought today and when I was emptying the trash from his room, there were countless tissues with blood spots on them... I'm so worried I don't know what to do...  
  
Dear Diary, It worked! I experienced my first ever transformation into a doe today!   
  
Dear Diary, Ever since the big day (As I'm now calling it) I've had an overwhelming fondness for salt. I can't put down the stuff! We'll I have to go down to dinner now!  
Much Love, Lily  
  
That had been her last entry...  
  
Lily heaved a huge sigh, and picked herself up again. She flipped to the blank page after her last entry.  
  
Dear Diary, Note that I'm writing in English now! Thanks to the strenuous effort of the Transfiguration teacher, and my two friends, and countless other peoples, I'm coming along beautifully. Now diary, about my new friends...  
  
Professor McGonnagall- Met her the night I came. I quickly befriended her, though it's more of a mother-daughter relationship. She is extremely nice and was very lax on my homework the first two months.   
  
Arabella (Bella as requested) - Bella is the wild one, always perky, and sometimes a bit clueless. She is open to everything and a good listener.  
  
Maria- Maria is shy, quiet, and very thoughtful. During the first few weeks here, Maria played bail for me countless times when boys asked her where I was and if she could set them up with me. I cannot say the same thing for Bella however.  
  
The Marauders- I group of boys (Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter)(Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs) who delight in laying pranks and living life. Sirius was a member of the boy brigade (as Bella called it) but finally gave up. Diary, I think they might be Animagus.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Lily checked her watch. It was 2:15. She slid out of bed fully dressed, and flung on her invisibility cloak. She tiptoed down the hall and whispered the password to the fat lady who swung open in her sleep. Lily stepped into the deserted common room where the fire was dying, and discards of homework were littered all over the floor. She quietly snuck up to the boys dormitories and stepped in to the Mauauders bedroom. James was on his stomach, his hair messier than Lily had ever seen before. How he managed to subdue it she had no idea. Sirius's mouth was open and Lily could see some drool glistening on his cheek. Remus was snoring softly, a book still in his hand, and Peter was giggling in his sleep. Silently, she tiptoed over the floor and nearly died of heart attack when the floor squeaked loudly and Sirius muttered something and rolled over. She got on her knees by James's bed and groped under the bed for the box. She felt something clammy grab her wrist. Her breath caught and visions of her stuttering a feeble explanations to the horrified boys popped up, and then she had to suppress a laugh. It was the rotting hand that she had set up as a Halloween decoration in the boys room in October. The hand seemed feeble now, and diminished as if it had been thrown across the room one to many times. Lily whispered a silencing spell and then beat it on the floor and flung it across the room, freeing herself of the vice like grip. She pulled out the box, and fished out the album. She searched the pages until she found what she wanted. Toddler James at the beach, in his trunks, destroying a sand castle his father and uncles had made for him. It was there. Lily dropped the book and sat against the wall. It must be his birthmark. It had been on the exact same place on the stag. It had caught her attention the night before, a curious little marking.   
  
His nickname Prongs. Of course. It was all coming together. Padfoot- the dog. Peter must be something. as well, But Moony? An owl? Then it dawned upon her. The werewolf she had seen She put her hand to her mouth. No wonder they were so worried today. They know that the doe they saw in the forest wasn't an animal because they heard me scream. But it's illegal in Britain, they must have known that. She looked over at Remus sleeping peacefully across the room. his face looked pale and drawn, but peaceful none the less.   
  
They wanted to help their friend, I see. Lily pushed the box back under the bed and left. She stopped at the door and snorted as the rotting hand inched it's way back under the bed.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"What?" said Remus, his eyes growing wide with shock. "I almost attacked someone last night?"   
  
"A doe can't scream."  
  
"It might have been a banshee. Who knows what lives in the forest."  
  
"That wasn't a banshee. Remember Defense Again the Dark Arts class on banshees. We heard their scream.  
  
Sirius winced. "How could I forget."  
  
"Well I didn't forget either, and that was a female human scream.   
  
"How do you know it was female?"  
  
"The only guy I know who screams that high-pitched is Peter."  
  
"Hey!" said Peter, offended.   
  
"Also, the vines behind it were moving."  
  
"So what are you saying?"  
  
"That doe was an animagus. Probably the moody chick at the salt lick I saw a couple months ago."  
  
Sirius looked over at Remus concerned. "Moony, are you okay?"  
  
Remus indeed looked nauseous. " I need to go to the Hospital Wing I think."  
  
After Potions James felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around. It was Elle.  
  
"Is Remus all right? He wasn't in class."  
  
"Oh, he's fine. He thinks he caught the flu."  
  
"Oh." Elle gave him a weak smile. "All right then. Bye."  
  
"Bye," James whispered as she walked down the hall with Bella and Maria. The look in her eyes said that she knew he was lying.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A/N: Okay this chapter is done. (I know it sucked) Chapter 6 is Yuletide season and the L/J you've been waiting so patiently for will start. I had a MAJOR writer's block for this chapter. Uggg. Next chapter will be up soon, as I already know what I'm going to write.   
  
I want reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme!!!!  
  
Watching the Super Bowl as I write- Go Buccaneers! Arr! 


	6. Curse the the dratted mistletoe!

Salt Lick  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and all the characters except Maria and my plot.  
  
Christmas had fallen upon Hogwarts castle...  
  
It was softly snowing outside, the ghosts were singing carols through the halls, and garlands of holly were everywhere. In fact, the only thing that could dampen Lily's spirits was...mistletoe. This was no ordinary mistletoe however. Once caught inside of it with the opposite sex, an invisible barrier of five square feet would spring up, and would only disappear once you had kissed smack on the lips. You couldn't memorize where they were either. They moved around the castle at will, so avoiding them was near impossible. Unless that is, you walked around all day looking at the ceiling, which many people tended to do. Strangely enough, the next morning after you had been caught in some mistletoe, a picture of the kiss would mysteriously appear on the Entrance Hall bulletin.   
  
Lily walked down the hall, glancing up now and then, headed for the Gyriffindor common room, which was on the other side of the castle. It was a Friday, and classes were over. Christmas break had begun.   
  
Holly, Christina, and Mary from Ravenclaw ran up to her. They gave her a flyer. "Hey Elle Belle! We're having a party in Ravenclaw common room tomorrow, can you come?"  
  
"Sure, what time?"  
  
"Starts after dinner. Hey, see if the Marauders can come. You can bring Maria and Bella as well."  
  
"Okay, I'll tell them."  
  
Lily giggled at the picture on the flyer, of a very fat Santa trying to free himself from a chimney which he had attempted to shimy down head first.  
"Okay ladies." Bella slammed her orange juice glass down on the table after draining it. "Have you ever gotten the guilty feeling: Hey! I really don't know my friends at all!"  
  
Lily grinned. Bella had an idea for a fun thing to do, she knew it. Bella was always coming up with things to keep them laughing.  
  
"Well," said Bella after a long silence. "I did.... So I made this!" She pulled out three boxes from under her robes with flourish."  
  
Maria raised an eyebrow. "What are those?"  
  
"They're boxes full of little slips of paper. On the paper are truths and dares."  
  
Maria glared angrily at her friend. "You promised you'd never give me dares again, Arabella Figg! I hate serving detention!"  
  
"These are tame dares. Most of them are truths. We could do it in Hogmeade today. We'll be there all day shopping for Christmas presents."  
  
Lily grinned. "Sounds fun. C'mon Maria! Don't be such a stick in the mud!"  
  
Maria gave in reluctantly.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The girls walked down the road cheerfully. So far, Lily had to eat caviar ice cream, Bella had to buy a hideous old fashioned vinyl hat and wear it, and Maria was wearing a bright purple shirt bearing the words: I Like Your Boyfriend." Several girls had given her mean looks.   
  
Maria pulled a slip of paper from her box. "Lily:" she read.... "Walk up behind the first Hogwarts guy you see with his back towards you, and blow a big raspberry on the side of his neck."   
  
Lily started to laugh. "Where did you get these?"   
  
Maria grinned. "Witch Weekly."  
  
Lily looked around until she saw a person with his back turned. He was talking in a group of friends, walking down the road.   
  
"Now or never." said Maria as she shoved Lily after him.   
  
Lily ran up to the boy and put her hands on his shoulders and blew a big wet raspberry on his neck. The boy yelled and jumped in the air. His friends started laughing.   
  
"Ooo.... Sorry, Amos," said Lily apologetically. "It was a dare."   
  
Amos clutched his chest wheezing. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"  
  
"Nice shirt...." said a boy, eyeing Maria.  
  
"Okay my turn." Lily said pulling out her box as the boys looked on in interest.  
  
She pulled out a paper. "Bella: Truth. If you were stuck on a deserted island and could choose to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?"  
  
Bella bit her lip. "Hmmmmm.... Toughie. Definitely not caviar ice cream, not potatoes..... I'd have to say steamed broccoli."  
  
The boys, Lily, and Maria looked at Bella strangely.  
  
"See what I mean on not knowing each other well enough?"  
  
"I guess. Mine would have been limes." said Maria.  
  
"Garlic." said Lily. "Nobody would be around to be offended."  
  
Bella was looking into the distance at something. She grinned wickedly. "Elle.... I have the perfect dare...."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"I can't believe your making me do this!" Elle said behind the curtain.   
  
"C'mon out! Let's see you."  
  
Lily slid out from behind the curtain and winced as Maria cracked up. Bella, in stitches all well, leaned on Maria for support. Lily was dressed in a knee-length Mrs. Clause dress, with a Santa hat perched rakishly on a white curly wig. Lily growled at her two friends, who were beginning to calm down.   
  
"Oh it's not that bad!" said Bella cheerfully. "You get paid. That "Mrs. Clause Wanted" sign on Honeyduke's window was just too tempting."  
  
"I wonder who Mr. Clause will be?" Maria said keenly.  
  
"Well, I'm about to find out." Lily gritted her teeth and stalked out into the shop. Maria and Bella followed her. Mr. Duke, the shop's owner was an elderly, round, bald, cheerful man. His grin stretched further across his face as he saw Lily emerge for the bathroom.   
  
"Miss Lohre! Excellent! So kind of you to take the job. The orphanage will coming shortly with about fifty children! If you will be so kind as to join Mr. St. Nick in the corner."   
  
Lily looked across the shop at the Santa who was being given instructions by an employee. He was well padded in the red suit, but his face was young under the massive beard, and Lily noted his glasses, which looked oddly familiar....  
  
"James!" shouted Lily as she walked over. "What are you doing here?"   
  
"Getting paid for a good deed. I lost a bet, and all of the dough was spent on Christmas presents.... So here I am. You?"  
  
"Dare. At least I'm getting paid." They were interrupted as what seemed like hundreds of eager-eyed children flocked into the shop with their parents.   
The process was easy enough. James sat in a big chair, and Lily would lift the kids onto his lap. He would listen to their lists of what they wanted for Christmas, then Lily would give them some Honeydukes chocolate before they left, their eyes large and bright. Not before long, Lily had started to enjoy herself, and gave Bella and Maria permission to go on without her, because the job would last until late. The orphanage arrived a half and hour later, with around fifty children as promised. They had just finished with them as more children came into the shop. Lily had just lifted a little girl off of James lap, when a six year old boy climbed up onto James. He looked at James and Lily for a moment, a pensive look on his face. Then he tugged on James's beard (which was luckily attached by magic) and looked up with his big brown eyes.  
  
"Do you love Mrs. Santa?"   
  
James looked a bit taken aback. "W-why yes, young master, I do."  
  
"How much?"  
  
"Er- um... very much indeed."  
  
"Does Mrs. Santa ever sit on your lap like my Mum does with my Dad sometimes?"  
  
James's eyes began to dance. "But of course!" He shifted the boy onto one knee and patted the other. "C'mere Mrs. Santa!"   
  
Lily's mouth dropped open in horror. 'No!' she mouthed to him.   
  
'Yes!' he mouthed back. Lily stiffly sat on the edge of his knee and was fairly buckled over as James swung his arms around her and the boy.   
  
"So what would you like for Christmas!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Mr. Duke had paid them both handsomely, given them each a slab of chocolate, and had let them keep the suits. It was dark out when Lily and James headed back towards Hogwarts. Lily let her hat swing from her arm, her wig stuffed inside of it, James's beard stuffed into it as well.   
  
"Well that was fun." said James brightly.   
  
"I cannot believe you made me sit on your lap!" said Lily indignantly.   
  
James chuckled. "Didn't you see how happy it made him? His Mum must have apologized fifty times!"  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Lily woke up Christmas morning with a heap of presents piled at her feet. She sat up and yawned.  
  
"SUPRISE!!!"  
  
Lily screamed and jumped in the air. Maria, Bella, the Marauders, and a couple of Ravenclaw girls sprang up from under her bed.   
  
"Happy Christmas, Elle Belle!" said Sirius leaping on the bed. He throwed a present at her. "Here's mine."   
  
An hour later all of the presents were unwrapped and all of them were lounging on the bed talking. Lily had received a gift certificate to a popular shop in Hogsmeade from the boys, Holly and Mary had given her a handmirror that gave honest opinion, Christina gave her magical eyelash extenders, which would bat madly randomly at males, and Maria and Bella had pooled their money for a beautiful diary as Lily had finished hers. It was filled with color and spaces for doodles as well as extra magical notes sheets. Both have one sheet in class and writes notes on them, to find each others messages magically appear on the other sheet, rather like the muggle version of instant messaging on the Internet.   
  
Lily was heading back to her room later that day before the feast after just having a snowball fight with Maria and Bella. The two girls had gone to get food from the kitchens, and Lily, who had been gained up on after successfully pelting Maria and Bella with snow, had gone up to her room to change her wet clothes. She was so absorbed in her thoughts she ran into someone. She didn't bother to look who it had been, but just murmured an apology before walking on. Two steps later however she ran into something hard that rather seemed like an invisible barrier. With dread she looked up to see the cursed mistletoe twinkling evilly above her. She heard a cough behind her and dreadingly turned around.  
A/N: HAHAHA! Cliffhanger! Or sort of. It's definately in the cliffhanger speices. But anyway, I'm sorry for the wait! I had a bomb of homework and on top of that a pretty severe case of writers cramp! See the button that says "Go" down there? Press it and review! 


	7. Starting over again

~*~*~Salt Lick~*~*~  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of J.K. Rowling's masterful work. Boo hoo.  
  
A/N: Lessee... Where were we let's rewind a tad. Walking down hall, trapped in mistletoe, hears discreet cough, takes deep breath turns around. LO AND BEHOLD! IT"S-!!!!!  
  
Lily sighed in relief. It was just some pimply-faced Hufflepuff....(AN:Ok,ok,ok, I know you all need some explanation and everything, so 'ere I go... I tried it with Sirius,I tried it with James, I EVEN TRIED IT WITH JIMMY,ANNA! (j/k) I tried it with Snape,Lucius,Prof.. Dumbledore, (another joke) none of it worked so it's just gonna be a pimply Hufflepuff. Sorry for getting your hopes up. ;P)   
  
Lily sighed in relief, pecked him quickly, and continued walking down the hall. Ok, at least that was over, now to get out of these soggy clothes...  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *   
  
She had just changed and was wrapping her hair up into a towel, when she happened to look in the mirror...  
  
Lily screamed, her face turning white. The spell had worn off, her hair was its original red! She watched in horror as the blue in her eyes slowly drained out to be replaced with the original green. Bella and Maria were about to come up... What was she going to do?!   
  
Someone knocked on the trapdoor. "Elle!" Maria's voice called. "We have the cocoa. The Marauders caught us so we had to bring up extra for them. Sorry we took so long!"   
  
"What's the new password again?" shouted up Peter.   
  
Lily panicked. They couldn't see her like this. If the secret was broken so would the spell and Wott might be able to find her. At least they didn't know the new password, Sing sweet nightingale, that would delay them for a while.   
  
"Er- I'm dressing! Just a minute!"   
  
"Could Maria and I come up, the cocoa is burning us!" shouted Bella.  
  
Lily frantically bound her hair up in the towel. Her eyes! What could she do? Her breathing became heavier.   
  
"Are you all right? Elle, what's wrong."  
  
Lily needed Dumbledore immediately. But it was on the other side of the castle and six people were just outside her door. Suddenly she knew what to do... Lily screamed on the top of her lungs.   
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *   
  
The group raced towards Dumbledore's office. Elle's words still rang in their heads. "Help get Dumbledore quick!" James slid to a stop in front of the gargoyle. The others ran into him abruptly.   
  
"What's the password?!" whined Maria in panic.   
  
"Lemon head!" shouted Remus. They ran up the flight of stairs and banged into the headmaster's office. Dumbledore was snoozing on some papers. Unable to talk from panting so hard, they waved madly at the phoenix by him. Fawkes screeched shrilly and Dumbledore's head turned up sharply.  
  
"Professor-she-something wrong- help!" spat Bella panting heavily.   
  
"Professor, something is wrong in Elle's room. She wouldn't let us in and all of a sudden she screamed and told us to go fetch you and-"  
  
Dumbledore had risen alarmingly fast from his seat, his usually calm blue eyes flashing. "All of you stay here. Do not leave this room at any rate." He swept out of the room.   
  
************************************************************************  
  
Dumbledore stepped out of the swinging wall and strode to the trapdoor. "Lily?"   
  
It feels good to hear that name, sir," replied a weak voice.   
  
Dumbledore sighed. "Are you all right?"  
  
"The spell wore off, and they were trying to come in."  
  
Lily watched as Dumbledore climbed up the ladder into her room.   
  
"Professor, I can'r stay here anymore. They'll keep on asking what happened and they will eventually find out. They always find out."  
  
Dumbledore sank wearily into a chair. "No, Lily you cannot. I'm afraid you must go into hiding again.  
  
"What?" shouted Lily. "Professor, I've been getting along so well here! Don't make me leave! Hogwarts is my home!"  
  
Dumbledore smiled wanly. "You will not leave, Lily. We will simply have Ms. Lohre leave with a medical condition and have a new transfer student come in her place."  
  
"Professor, but I won't be able to be with Bella, Maria, and the Maruaders will I?"  
  
"No Lily I am afraid not. As you said, they would be sure to find out. And at the risk of your safety, that cannot be permitted. I'm sorry Lily, but until Mr. Wott is found, you will have some hard times ahead."  
  
Lily lifted her chin bravely. "What must I do?"  
  
AN: This chapter was quite short, but I'd rather have you all know I'm still alive than to keep you waiting forever...Now I know your thinking: Oh boy, it's gonna start all over again, but I am getting somewhere, I promise. Oh yeah, and lastly, review! Getting them really motivates me to knuckle down... So press go and write something! 


	8. Janie Downes

Salt Lick  
  
Chapter 8- 3rd Life  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Plain and Simple.  
  
(A/N: I always like to start off my chapters with an author's note. I have read many author's notes where the author thanks the reviewers one by one with a statement for each. However I am too lazy to do so, so I will merely thank all of you as a whole. Thank you for all of your praise, criticism, and support. Next story, for there will be a next, will be even better. Quite frankly, I see much room for improvement. However, not to take myself meanly, I will state that for a 1rst fic...I don't think I did so bad...Chapter 8...)  
  
Lily's new identity:  
  
Janie Downes. A deaf, mute from Sussex. Unable to come at the beginning of year due to bad case of pneumonia and weak lungs. Frizzy blonde hair, and pale blue watery eyes. Placed in Hufflepuff.   
  
Lily felt like crying so was so let down. She was deaf, mute, ugly, and in a house full of ditzes who hated her. She wasn't really deaf, she could hear, but Professor Dumbledore had put an anti-talking spell on her. In case she talked in her sleep or something. And to top it all off, she had strict orders to not associate with any of her friends in case they found anything out. Her life was on the line after all. Personally, Lily or Janie now, would have rather had her friends and risked her life. After all, if she died she could be with her dad.   
  
In class, the translator was out again. Lily Evans could hear fine, but Janie Downes needed the translator obviously.   
  
Lily disliked Hufflepuff to the depths of her being. Not all of them were bad of course, the nice ones promptly tried to make friends, but were disappointed when she didn't try to communicate at all, and promptly forgot about her. She would have liked to have made acquaintance, to the best of her ability, but she couldn't make any tight relationships with anyone. She ate at the farthest end of the Hufflepuff table, and since the Hufflepuff table was stationed in the corner, she was also in the shadows. She wore her uniform plain, no personality showing, went straight to and from classes, skipping breaks, and when she had to go to the library, sat at the farthest, most inconspicuous table. She sat in the back of class, with the slackers, and slouched. Lily's scores, with nothing for her else to do but study, sky-rocketed, but the teachers put average grades on the charts, so as not for her to gain attention. Though this was not enjoyable, it worked. Nobody even seemed to notice her. Janie Downes, it seemed, ceased even to exist...  
  
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(A/N: Okay. If you have seen stepsister for planet weird you know about how when the two girls switch diary entries it rewinds showing all of what happened in the past few days (quickly) and then slows down when it comes to the right place for the other to start her aspect of things? Now imagine that happening with Lily to the point of which she enters the hall for the first time. Chapter 2. Imagine her speeding backwards through screaming, mistletoe, Mrs. Clause, pieing Sirius, talking French, meeting Bella and Maria, etc etc all the way to when she is standing at the Great Hall doors, looking around. Then, zoom into the Hufflepuff table to the popular blonde girls. Meg Laeveen in particular. Meg Laeveen is blonde, busty, giggly, and simpering, wearing a magically tightened version of used to be a decent uniform. But underneath all that blonde hair, primping, giggling, and Magarite's Magical Magnifying Mascara, she is a very intelligent, clever, shrewd person.)   
  
Talking through Meg's Aspect of things:  
  
First day of classes Meg Laeveen got up an hour early. She showered, put a whole bottle of Kinky Kurls in her blonde mane, primped, plucked, poked, clipped, shaved, exfoliated, and manicured every inch of her person.  
  
Meg was a 6th year Hufflepuff. Pure blood, rich, and an only child. She belonged to the popular crowd of Hogwarts, but she was unlike them all in one trait. She was intelligent. An ordinary observer would see Blonde hair, blue eyes, killer figure, and giggly nature. An extraordinary observer would see the same, but deep in her blue, carefully lined eyes, and very smart, observant, and keen person. An extraordinary observer would also note that along with these traits there was also a very strong one, but more carefully hidden. Cruelty. In fact some would argue she was downright ruthless.  
  
Of course most of the popular girls were mean and pettish, but it isn't very deep, and as they matured, it grew out of them. Meg's source of wrath had a firm root however. Some might argue, it had all to do with her parents not being there for her as a child. Others her mother dying. Some others would say that those reasons might have begun it, but other things slowly grew on top of those things to produce the wicked-minded creature who strode the halls of Hogwarts with her retinue.   
  
At any rate, with her mother gone when she was ten, Meg was properly spoilt by her father, making up for all the lost attention with expensive gifts. When he was home, he obeyed his fractious daughter, giving in to her every childish whim and fancy. So at Hogwarts, eleven year old Meg was given a shock. She couldn't get what she wanted in that place. She had to obey the teachers or get punished. In utter disgust with herself, she meekly went to bed at the proper time, did her homework, and stayed put in the castle or grounds. So it made sense she would highly admire the people or person who did get what they wanted and didn't listen to the teachers. The Marauders...or more in perticular: James Potter.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The three girls were leaning against the Hufflepuff table. Jena, Jillian, and Meg almost never ate anything except salads and cottage cheese. In fact they only appeared most times at the great hall to make appearances. The girls were always followed by an entourage, and now they were sitting clustered around them laughing like hyena's at anything any of them ventured to say.  
  
Jena whinnied her high simpering laugh. "Oh look"- she pointed her talloned finger at the entrance of the Great Hall- "the new exchange student."   
  
Meg listened on as Jena and Jillian laughed at her hair, her complexion, and other parts drawing interest to criticizing mouths, while their adoring minions cackled obediently. Meg, who was an extraordinary observer, relaxed that this girl was scared. Already she could tell that making this girl's life miserable would be easy. Then in suprise she watched as the girl's jaw set itself, and her jaw clench. The girl courageously strode down the table, ignoring the accusing looks and whispers that sprang up. Meg leaned back against the table.   
  
Jillian bent forward and whispered. "Do you see a possible adversary?"  
  
Meg smiled wickedly, flicked her hair, and winked. Jillian leaned back, shaking her head knowingly, while not comprehending Meg's gestures whatsoever.  
  
Professor Dumbledore stood up. "Some recent announcements. Our new French exchange student arrived at 2:00 this morning and was sorted. Elle was made an inter-house, between Griffindor and Ravenclaw. Our first in 30 years, I believe. She will be switching houses every week, and may try out for both Quidditch teams. I trust each of you will do your best to make Elle welcome at Hogwarts, seeing as she speaks little English already. Miss Lohre will be excused from all homework for 1 month, assuming that she will have learned much by then. Thank you. You may resume stuffing your faces with out excellent food."  
  
Meg scowled at the attention the girl was getting. Her eyes flicked ceremoniously over to James to see his reaction. To her fury she saw him gazing at her intently. She watched as one of the girls Elle was sitting at pointed over at them and Elle moved her eyes over. James and she held eyes for a moment. She turned her head and James reluctantly pulled away.   
  
She had been trying for years to get James to look at her like that and meeting with failure. The girl had to have used something. A love potion? They were forbidden. Whatever she was doing it was certainly not allowed, and Meg vowed then and there to find out what.  
  
(AN: I know what you are thinking...Is she a little bit...eccentric? Yup.)  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Back to the present...  
  
Lily, or Janie now, was sitting at her table in the library on the far side. She was so immersed in her Arithmancy charts and numerous books that she did not hear someone walk up to her. She saw a shadow fall onto the column that she was working on, and not having human contact for such a long period and being so caught up in her train of thought that if she had her voice she would have screamed. But as she could not, she merely jumped a few feet in the air and clutched her chest as if suffering a sudden heart-attack.  
  
"Sorry," said James apologetically. " I saw Professor McGonagall talking to you two weeks ago and I figured that you could read lips."  
  
Lily, alarmed, decided to play along. She nodded.   
  
"I've been trying to talk with you since then but your hard to catch," he said sitting down.  
  
A little voice in her head told her not to try to communicate, but seeing James's familiar lop-sided grin brought back the memories of the beginning of the year. She brought out her translator and pointing her wand at it, said a spell in her head. The translator switched to speaking whatever she wrote.  
  
James grinned.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Gosh, look at the time," said the translator through Lily. They had been talking for 2 solid hours. "I really have to go."  
  
"Oh...." said James disappointedly.  
  
Lily placed all of her things in her bookbag slowly, taking unnecessary means to straighten out all of her perfectly unwrinkled papers. She slung the bag over her shoulder.  
  
James stood up. "Maybe we could meet here tomorrow."  
  
Lily gave him a small smile and nodded.  
  
"Okay then," said James happily.  
  
Lily walked out of the library happier than she had been in weeks. She might have her voice, and friends, and identity...or other identity taken away, but at least James wasn't gone. "A bit odd though," she thought. How James found me again even though I was completely different person....  
  
With this thought she walked happily back to the Hufflepuff common room.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
She groaned as she stepped into the 6th year girl's dorm. Meg and her minions were waiting for her, their arms crossed.  
  
"We saw you in the library with James-" began Jillian but Meg cut her off.  
  
"So you ignore all of us, pretending to be some poor pathetic loner, but as soon as James comes your way you slobber all over him like some sort of sick puppy? I'll have you know I marked James off for myself first day I met him, and nobody has ever gotten away with being with him since. Arabella never did, and that Elle girl never did either, thanks to me, and neither will YOU!" As she yelled the last bit she shoved a pillow and blanket from Lily's bed into her arms and pushed her out the door.   
  
Lily stood in shock. Dumbledore had been saying that because the spell wore off not of age but because somebody had found out her identity... Was it possible that that person was Meg? And what had she said about Arabella? Was there something Bella hadn't been telling her? With a heavy sigh she settled down at a table. If she couldn't go to sleep she might as well get her homework done.   
  
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AN: There you are! In the upcoming chapter...  
  
* Lily and James conversation: He tells her about Elle...  
  
* Meg's POV beginning of year  
  
*Bella's secret  
  
*Etc. etc. etc.  
  
You want a chapter faster? Review! 


	9. Fishing in the past

Salt Lick  
  
James lay on his side on his bed in his dormitory, his head buzzing with unorganized thoughts. He was thinking of the past year, Elle, Quidditch, Elle leaving, the upcoming match, homework, Janie, Elle, Janie.... James turned upwards and shoved a pillow under his back. He focused his thoughts sleepily on one thing.   
  
He remembered Elle's warm grin, her way of fidgeting before tests, her walk, all the strawberry jam she piled on her toast. How she had screamed then disappeared. What had happened? Why did Dumbledore not do anything? Everyone had gone crazy after she'd left. Then the shock had worn off, and they stopped talking about her. They all thought about her though. At least he did. Then he'd saw a girl he'd never saw before. Something about her caught his eye for some crazy reason in the hall one day, but when he turned to look again, she wasn't there. It had taken forever to find her out, but he learned she was deaf and mute from some second years in Hufflepuff, and in sixth year. She sat at the same corner of the Hufflepuff table each morning, noon, and night at meals. And she piled her toast with enormous quantities of strawberry jam.   
  
He'd finally found her in the library and she had jumped like a cornered doe. They had talked forever. Then afterwards, he had felt guilty. He felt like he was betraying Elle, forgetting her too easily. He willed his sleepy thoughts to the remember night not so long ago....  
  
They were walking alone back to Hogwarts, still dressed in their Santa suits. Or in her case a Mrs. Santa suit. They were walking as slowly as they could. Both of them didn't want their time together to end. They joked around, and talked about life after Hogwarts, their families. James remembered what had happened next remarkably clearly considering how he couldn't think when it was happening. They sort of stopped and faced each other for no reason, he tapping the ground with the front of his shoe, she looking down at hers. Then they had looked up at the same time and found they were closer than they had expected. Then before he knew what he was doing he was leaning in closer. He had seen his eyes reflected in hers before he had shut his. He flinched remembering it. What was he thinking? He hadn't been thinking. He just dove in and kissed her. She had looked really flustered, and he felt even more flustered, then they had flusteredly walked back to the castle in silence, and with a quick bye walked different ways to their different destinations. She had gone towards her room, but he in an awkward, flusteredness had walked unconsciously in the opposite direction, which he had later found out was the kitchen. If his brain didn't know what he needed, his subcontious did. Then in the morning he couldn't talk to her about it because they were never alone, then she needed to change after a huge snowball fight, then she screamed and she was gone.   
  
James grabbed his head with both hands and let out a noise that was in-between and groan and a yell. Sirius, who was a light sleeper, snapped up.   
  
"Wassamatter?" he asked sleepily.  
  
"Nothing," James rolled over, popped a salt cube from under his bed into his mouth, and went to sleep.  
  
AN: Okay, we're going back in time again. Back to when Elle was still there. On the day in Hogsmeade they were all daring each other, the day of the Santa suits, etc.  
  
Meg was not in a good temper, but then she never really was. She was at the library in Hogsmeade looking up French newspapers. The magical variety of course. She dropped a load of dusty newspapers on her desk in the corner she had been using for 3 hours. She sneezed and produced her wand. She tapped the paper here and there at the headlines, turning the French into English. It was mildly entertaining to watch. The letters would group together in a big tangle, and new letters would appear, then they'd arrange themselves into the other desired language.  
  
Meg was getting tired and it was already dark out. She'd have to leave for the castle soon. She prodded a headline several times. Her magic was drifting off with her brain, and some words would only half-translate themselves. She poked the papers for what seemed like another 3 hours before she stopped suddenly. She stared down at the headline in front of her, blaring out the message: MASS MUGGLE-BORN KILLINGS AT BEAUXBATONS ACADAMY. Meg quickly translated the rest of it, and ran over to the magical copying machine. She coughed as the machine produced a large cloud of purple smoke. Fanning the air around her, Meg produced the copy of the article and shoved it in her bag. She was late for a Christmas party in the Hufflepuff common room, she would have to read it later.   
  
Fate seemed to be against Meg the next morning. She overslept, couldn't read the article in the dorm because Jill wouldn't leave, was starved and had to eat before the tables cleared, the route back to the common room was full of boys who found out how to magic the mistletoe to trap girls in with them.... After threatening to use all three Unforgivable Curses at once on a red-faced boy in the hall who was magicking some mistletoe her way, she made her way down to the Hufflepuff corridor and into the common room. The Hufflepuffs were having a Christmas party. She left Jenna and Jill deeply offended after refusing crabbily to have them braid tinsel in her hair.   
  
She could scarcely breath with anticipation as her shaking fingers produced the article. She eyes were a blur scanning the paper...but her brain was taking in everything. An attack on Beauxbatons Acadamy... 54 students were dead... 3 deatheater captured... a 15 year old girl had broken the law by horribly disfiguring an attacking deatheater with the complex Animorphus Curse... She had been pardoned due to its use as a defense in a life-threatening situation... the girl had been removed from Beauxbatons that night....  
  
Meg's eye's widened with understanding. Everything had fallen into place.   
  
The paper dropped from her hands. On the other side of the castle a spell was lifted. And 200 miles away a person in an odd looking cloak stiffened. Garish lips curled open in a smile, to reveal a set of yellow, misfigured, animal-like teeth.  
  
(Back to the present)  
  
Lily decided to sleep first and think over what Meg had said in the morning. She had fallen asleep fairly easily. (the Hufflepuff couches were very soft and squashy) She woke up before six and made her way out of the room not bothering to retrieve any new clothes from the dorm. There were only a few people in the Great Hall at that hour and she preferred it that way. Grabbing some toast she patted a large dollop of jam on a side and took a large bite.   
  
Meg had said that she had gotten rid of Elle. The spell that had been put on her would only lift if someone who already didn't know found out. She had to assume Meg had read a newspaper that mentioned the subject and put two and two together. She surely wouldn't know about Wott though...   
  
The toast wouldn't go down her throat. the hand holding her breakfast froze in mid-air.   
  
"Hey," someone swung down opposite her.   
  
Had she her voice she would have screamed. It was James Potter. She swallowed hard.  
  
"Your up awfully early," said James grinning.   
  
Lily felt a stab of annoyance. She didn't want to talk to him right now. The threat of Wott had suddenly brought her conversation with Dumbledore to mind. She mustn't make any personal relationships.   
  
She grabbed the quill and paper he had at hand and scribbled furiously.   
  
'I can't talk right now.'  
  
She rose and walked away. Where could she go? The library? No, he knew she was always there. She silently decided on the owlry. It was a long walk, but she felt like one right about now.   
  
She suddenly regretted snapping at James. She was so different than she used to be. Lily Evans would never have been as rude as Janie Downes had been. Elle Lohre wouldn't have either....  
  
It was if with each disguise a new life had begun inside her. She found herself being different people with each new ruse. What had she turned into?   
  
She aimed a furious kick at the stone wall. How she longed to just scream! She wanted to be Lily Evans again. She wanted her red hair back. She wanted her best friend Elle back. She wanted her life back and Wott gone!   
  
Lily was winding down. One thing that she wanted and could get was salt. Not kitchen salt either. Salt from the salt lick. She would get it as soon as she could.  
  
James had not had a great night of sleep. He rolled out of bed the next morning and had thrown on clothes before descending into the Great Hall for breakfast. The hall was nearly empty. He scanned the tables. His mood lightened slightly. Janie was sitting at her regular spot, holding a piece of toast. She was frozen in thought, her eyes, unmoving, ahead of her. They were so wide open they looked oddly protuberant. The overall effect looked quite comical.   
  
He strode over to where she was and produced the paper and quill he had brought specifically in hopes of meeting her. He plopped down opposite her.  
  
"Hey," he said, grinning.   
  
She started, alarmed, in her seat. Her eyes were bigger than ever. A annoyed look passed over her face. She grabbed the paper, scribbled something, and stalked away.   
  
James was taken aback. He looked down at the message. But he did not read it. He had frozen, staring at the handwriting. It had been scribbled in a hurry and did not look like what she normally wrote. It seemed...familiar.   
  
It was as if a spell was holding his brain back from recognizing it, he knew he knew who it belonged to, but it was as if his brain was in protest of letting his conscious in on the information. It was odd, so odd. He grabbed the note, whatever was written on it, and went to the source of all answers: the library.  
  
30 minutes later, James had seated himself at his favorite table in the library with a pile of books in front of him. These ranged from Ways of Mortifying Your Enemy: With Emphasis on Befuddling Brain Blockers to Spells of the Imperious: Incantations and Potions relating to the Imperious Curse. Something dodgy was going on under his nose. And something or someone was preventing him from knowing what he already knew, and James was determined to find out what it was.  
  



End file.
